The fall turkey hunting season in Texas should be a good one.
“If you had birds last year in the areas that you’re hunting, you’ll have them again this year,” Hardin said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “We’ve had a pretty decent hatch the last few years, so across most of the state, you should have similar opportunities to what you’ve had in the past.”
Freezing weather in January and February may have presented a temporary setback as turkeys headed into nesting season. But plenty of rainfall and a mild summer followed, so populations should have recovered nicely from any losses that occurred in the winter.
With archery season set to begin Oct. 2 and the general fall season opening on Nov. 6, Hardin said it is important to check which counties have an open season.
New this year are some changes to TPWD’s north and south turkey hunting zones.
TPWD reorganized the fall south zone to include Goliad, Gonzales and Wilson counties.
Pay attention to your Outdoor Annual, go look up your county and figure out what day your season opens. Moving forward, we hope it will be a lot less confusing on those regulations. If you’re south of Highway 90, your season will open the Saturday closest to March 18. If you’re north of Highway 90, your season will open the Saturday closest to April 1.
Another change introduced by TPWD are mandatory turkey harvest reporting regulations for Bastrop, Caldwell, Colorado, Fayette, Jackson, Lavaca, Lee, Matagorda, Milam and Wharton counties. Those counties also have a one-gobbler annual bag limit. Turkeys harvested in those areas must be reported online or through the My Texas Hunt Harvest app within 24 hours.
It’s just tracking the population. We have our small-medium harvest survey that works really well for most of our four-bird bag limit counties in the heart of the Rio Grande [turkey] country. But those 10 counties are on the eastern edge of the Rio Grande range, and we just don’t get enough harvest to track that population. So, to get a better idea of what’s going on in that area population-wise and harvest-wise, we’ve implemented mandatory harvest reporting.
Panola County will no longer have a spring turkey season. Hardin cited low hunting participation and a smaller turkey population as factors in discontinuing turkey hunting there.
In addition to a Texas hunting license, an upland game bird endorsement is required to hunt turkeys. For complete regulations on the 2021-22 turkey season, visit TPWD’s website.